Scientific fashions, perfectionisms, and the value of traditional morphological taxonomy. #evolbio #philsci 🧪 waynemaddison.wordpress.com/2026/07/16/s...

Alright arachnologists and arachnid enthusiasts, let’s get this started! Drop a comment below if you would like to be added or have people to add. Let’s make the official AAS starter pack 💪🕷️🦂🕸️ go.bsky.app/8Nb8974

The smallest field assistant is already dressed for the job 👶🕷️ #JumpingSpiders #Salticidae #SpiderLovers #Arachnology #ScienceFamily #FutureScientist #NatureLovers #SpiderResearch #Entomology #Biology #TinyExplorer @arachnologynews.bsky.social @britishspiders.bsky.social @arachnology.bsky.social

📽️ It's showtime! A new video introduces our community of researchers and practitioners and tells about how DNA barcoding can be applied in different fields – from biodiversity monitoring to food authentication and more. youtu.be/zDSct838o8I?...

🪰 Ground-breaking study explodes the number of estimated insect species likely buzzing, burrowing, and crawling around the planet, from 6 million to as many as 20 million. go.nhm.org/estimated-in...

🕷️ The iconic Malagasy lion spider has a new story to tell! We redescribed Damastes leo, documenting the male for the first time and providing the first detailed data on the species’ distribution. Based on material collected in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.

Spider running performance varies enormously. We joined forces with David Labonte's Evolutionary Biomechanics lab in London for the broadest spider speed assay so far: 258 spp / 139 families Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202... Press coverage by the New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

The #Australian ballista #spider (Propostira sp.) uses its silk's elastic energy storage capacity to build the most powerful snare and selective in the #animal kingdom. Read about our discovery here: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... Video by Ajay Narendra. Recorded with 3,000 fps, playback 100x slowed down!

🧬 Metabarcoding and Metagenomics keeps climbing: #Scopus CiteScore up to 5.4, holding prestigious Q1 across 5 categories. Impact Factor also up, to 3.5 and ranks Q2 in Ecology (Web of Science). See more: mbmg.pensoft.net/news/1294 #openaccess #scholarlypublishing #publishing #DNA

🕷️ Two new species of jumping spider belonging to the genus Spartaeus have been described from southern China, with S. yingdeensis discovered in Guangdong Province and S. rotiscutus in Yunnan Province: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1282.194782 #jumpingspider #newspecies

🕸️ A variety of fungi was discovered living on spider webs in Thai rice fields, demonstrating that these silk structures can be used as natural collectors of environmental data. ➡️ Our blog post: blog.pensoft.net/2026/05/27/f... ➡️ Full study in @bdj.pensoft.net: doi.org/10.3897/BDJ....

Honoured to be a co-author of this collaborative paper published on the International Day for Biological Diversity, highlighting the importance of global DNA barcoding networks for biodiversity science and conservation. 🕷️🐝🐛🐜🦟🦂🪰🦋🦗🪲🪳🐞🐌

Tiny wasp borrowing a few eggs from a Uloborus campestratus lass's clutch while she's not looking 👀 I meant to post this encounter for Mother's Day but forgot

Your rights are at the centre of our action: - Airlines must show final prices upfront, no hidden fees - Full rights to reimbursement or rerouting if flights are cancelled - Support for airlines to maintain essential flight schedules, including fuel and slot flexibility More: link.europa.eu/BJfj4J

This unfortunate Therid spider Platnickina tincta has an unwelcome guest! A parasitoid wasp larva sits on its back & is sucking its insides out. Once the wasp larva is full grown it will suck out all of the spiders inners then pupate on its body. Dartmoor, Devon 5 May 2026 @gavinbroad.bsky.social

The battle of narratives is going strong. Our countries are a recurring target.   It is time to act to tell the stories that make us strong. Let’s live our own story! Protect what matters - our democracy.

also salute to all authors for their sustained publishing in society-based journals @molbioevol.bsky.social from iqtree 1 to 3. @bqminh.bsky.social @roblanfear.bsky.social wong kam fung, nhan

🦋 Abstract submission for ZoologyCon 2026 is now open! ➡️ Check out our latest news announcement to learn more: nhcm.pensoft.net/news/1213 ➡️ Official website of ZoologyCon: zoologycon.ro/home/

200 years Zoological Society of London!

Who describes the spiders? In this episode, I talk to Katherine Montana and Cláudia Xavier @claudiaxavier.bsky.social about their paper examining authorship in taxonomy. They analyzed thousands of species to identify patterns of underrepresentation, and shared hopes about the future of taxonomy.

Wayne Maddison (waynemaddison.bsky.social), professor emeritus at UBC, captured this video of a nearly transparent jumping spider (tribe Amycini) from Canandé Reserve, Ecuador. Look closely & you'll see the principal eyes moving as it scans the area visually. Let's talk about spider-vision! 🕷️🧪

Species descriptions should not be confined to "summary" PDFs only providing access to a fraction of the data underlying the conclusions. We here argue for "digitally native species" built around structured, specimen-linked, machine-actionable evidence from day one. rdcu.be/fcbwh

Cost-effectiveness is often determined by upfront costs. But getting to the right results faster could eliminate downstream interventions — saving time & money while improving outcomes. Mike shares how Oxford Nanopore has the potential to do this. https://bit.ly/47nLgDy

Would you like to learn about how genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity shape a species' range expansion? Here is a new, comprehensive paper led by Monica Sheffer from my group - supported by wonderful colleagues.

Myriapod Meet Up 2026 will be on 1 April, 8AM - 5PM (EDT). This online event will include short talks, and a chance to share and discuss research about myriapods (and other multipedes, e.g. Onychophora). Anyone may participate in this free event (no need to give a talk).

🆕 The @biogeneurope.bsky.social project - which now gives way to BGE+ - represented a landmark in European research collaboration, bringing together the #DNAbarcoding (@iboleurope.bsky.social) and #reference #genomes (@ergabiodiv.bsky.social) communities. 🔓 Grant Proposal: doi.org/10.3897/rio.....

Reading how spiders can regenerate legs when they’re growing and shed exoskeleton - and how even when new and small they can use the new limb as normal www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-11....

Review on The Chemical Ecology of Arachnids - Morphology, Behaviour and Semiochemicals now out as PREPRINT doi.org/10.32942/X22... with Kirk Hillier, Lise Roy and @nicolettafaraone.bsky.social We are grateful for any feedback to improve the review during the submission process

Chromosome-scale #genomes from newly sequenced spiders & the whip scorpion, the genetic basis of spinneret emergence in spiders & the complex history & functional importance of arachnid genome #evolution www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #biodiversity #genomics

🕸️ Massive web stretch from our cribellating friend (Asianopis subrufa) recorded in the field. If you’re intrigued by this fabulous #spider #silk read on doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2529200123 by @evoimec.bsky.social et al :) 🕸️

BGE is done sampling! 🥳 All over Europe scientists and citizen scientists took samples for BGE. Those samples needed to be transported to a lab for research, travelling thousands of kilometers. And that's not easy! More info on our website! 👉 biodiversitygenomics.eu/2026/01/21/b...

Empowering national capacity for DNA-based approach to species identification and biodiversity monitoring @mbmg.pensoft.net doi.org/10.3897/arph... #DNA #metabarcoding #sciencepolicy #biodiversity

We are now accepting grant applications to fund ecological research and outreach worldwide. ⏰Apply before 10 March 2026! Find out what grants you can apply to 👇 https://f.mtr.cool/cucxadvxjq 🧪🌍

🦋🧬 A milestone for biodiversity genomics. Project Psyche is building chromosome-level genomes for ~11,000 European butterflies & moths — 1,000 sequenced, 3,000+ collected, across 34 countries. 🔗 Read the publication: bit.ly/ProjectPsyche @projectpsyche.bsky.social #BiodiversityGenomics 🧬🌍

Pleasure to share our discovery! 🕷️🥰 The specimens for this article were collected in Thailand in 2020 😷 Interestingly, this species was already well documented on iNaturalist, yet remained unnamed until now! @arachnology.bsky.social @arachnologynews.bsky.social @jumpingspiders.bsky.social

#ERGAReads | We start the year by highlighting our partner Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe! 🦋 🌍 🧬 @projectpsyche.bsky.social 🔗 www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... #butterflies #moths #genomes

Happy New Year to everyone! 🕷️🥳

🧬 What are the best sampling practices to generate high-quality #genomic data? Well, it depends on the taxonomic group, of course!That’s why the #ERGAcommunity is working on taxon-specific sampling procedures. And you can join us! ➡️ www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/samplin...

In a new ZooKeys paper, authors named a new spider genus after our subject editor and prolific author Shuqiang Li! We congratulate Shuqiang on this distinction. blog.pensoft.net/2025/12/08/a...

Real conservation action, guided by genomes! @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @biogeneurope.bsky.social Why go beyond the reference genome? Because population genomics reveals hidden risks — low diversity, genetic drift, and declining gene flow. 🌍 Wetlands are disappearing… and so is genetic diversity.

I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees! yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/ Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches. Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.

Pleased to see @markavery.bsky.social's endorsement of @ecology-digest.bsky.social's atlas of Yorkshire's spiders and harvestmen, which we funded with the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 'If spiders are your thing, then this is a book for you, particularly, but not only, if you live in Yorkshire'

🎉 BROKEN RECORD! 🕸️ The recent discovery of a 100,000- #spider “megacity” on the border between Greece and Albania, published in our #openaccess, peer-reviewed journal @subtbiol.pensoft.net, became the most popular article across our entire #scientific portfolio, outperforming ~27,000 articles! 👏

🕷️ 🚨 Are you at the #DZG in Berlin next week? @dzg2025berlin.bsky.social my PhD @nadjageiger.bsky.social and I are very excited to tell you the latest about our spider sleep 💤 work! Come check out our talks on Friday and ask all your questions! :) 🚨 🕷️

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

#arthropod #moulting - our synthesis contrasts knowledge based on reported observations with reasonably plausible assumptions given current taxonomic sampling, & exposes weak assumptions or major gaps that need addressing. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

It was a pleasure to host so many wonderfull people! And thank you Simona for a great plenary!

Moravian University is hiring a Postdoctoral Scholar in Phylogenomics and Biogeography to study Opiliones evolution. Opportunity for teaching and research. Full details: https://ibtsjb.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_2/job/147 #postdoc

#ArticleIRBio How did evolution halve genome size during an oceanic island colonization? Authors: V.Pisarenco, A.Boada, M.Olivé, P.Escuer, N.Macías, @marnedo.bsky.social, P.Librado, A.Sánchez-Gracia, S.Guirao-Rico, @jrozasub.bsky.social Molecular Biology and Evolution doi.org/10.1093/molb... 👇